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HIGH POINT — New community and school gardens are springing up in the city.

A grant will pay for a garden at Oakview Recreation Center, and a nonprofit organization fighting childhood obesity has organized the construction of one at Fairview Elementary School.
 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, in partnership with the N.C. Recreation and Park Association, awarded a “Nourishing North Carolina” grant to the High Point Parks and Recreation Department.
 

“It’s one of the hot things across the state, having community gardens,” said Allen Oliver, director of High Point Parks and Recreation. “It helps build neighborhoods and promotes healthy eating.” It also encourages physical activity and allows people to save money on produce.
 

The Oakview garden will start with at least 10 garden beds, which will be leased to the public for a minimal fee. Oliver said the beds probably will be built in the next few months.
 

Parks and recreation staff have worked with Oakview Neighborhood Association members on the project.
“They’re working hard to spread the news about it,” Oliver said.
 

The parks and recreation department helped start the community garden adjacent to the Southside Recreation Center, and the project has been successful, he said.
 

On Sept. 17, students, parents, teachers and community members constructed seven of the eight raised beds that Fairview Elementary will use as an outdoor learning area. Students have planted collards, cabbage and other fall vegetables. The garden is part of the new FoodCorps national service program.

Leah Klaproth, the FoodCorps member serving at the school, will teach classes twice a week that tie into the students’ regular curriculum. Students will do seed experiments, chart the growth of plants and study many other math and science concepts. They built the beds in various geometric shapes.
 

The children will weed and water the area.
 

“The biggest thing is for them to take ownership of the garden,” said third-grade teacher Christa Caffrey.
 

The garden will educate children about healthful food. “It’s important for our young people to know not just what good food is, but where it comes from,” Klaproth said.
 

Klaproth also serves at Kirkman Park, Oak Hill and Union Hill elementary schools, as well as Johnson Street Global Studies. She is working with Guilford County Schools to bring more produce from local farms into cafeterias.
Klaproth is working in conjunction with the Guilford County Cooperative Extension Services, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and 4-H.
 

FoodCorps receives funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and other groups.

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at jamie.kennedy @news-record.com.